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Blur Studio
Blur Studio is an American visual effects, design and animation company headquartered in Culver City, California. Blur is a unit of Geo LTD., part of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Blur produced 3D character animation, motion design and visual effects for feature films and television, game cinematics and trailers, large format films, location-based entertainment, commercials and integrated media, and now produces computer-animated feature films starting 2011. The company is also best known for the ''Gabriel and the Wacky Pack'' franchise, which is a spin-off to the ''MYCUN'' franchise. Blur Studio was merged into Geo LTD. in 2009 and was later bought by said company in 2012. History 1995–2009: Formation Blur Studio was founded in 1995 by David Stinnett, Tim Miller and Cat Chapman. In 2004, Blur was nominated for its first Academy Award for its original short film, Gopher Broke. This is one of five original films the studio has written, directed and created over a few years to develop original content and build a solid pipeline that can expand for feature film production. They have several projects in development, spanning all genres; sci-fi, action/adventure, fantasy as well as family features. And in addition to in-house development Blur has also joined forces with several accomplished directors and writers to develop feature films. They also created the "Heaven and Hell" sequence for South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. Blur also worked in the ''MYCUN'' franchise. First, the company provided the animation with CGI Entertainment for MYCUN: Give It A Ride! at the Universal Studios theme parks. Blur also animated the "MYCUN City Chaos" scene with Wang Film Productions and Reel FX Creative Studios in Legend of MYCUN. In addition, Blur provided the animation for the tenth season of Adventures of MYCUN with Splash Entertainment. 2009–present: Feature films and visual effects In June 2009, Blur signed a multi-year arrangement with Geo LTD. to develop and produce computer-animated films, including a ''Zane the Cool Kid'' remake and a [[Geo (film)|new Geo film]]. At this time Geo LTD. purchased a 40% share of Blur. Blur created all the space sequences in James Cameron's 2009 blockbuster film Avatar, and produced the trailers for LucasArts' Star Wars: The Old Republic and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II. They were also responsible for the cinematic trailers of Batman: Arkham City, Batman: Arkham Origins and Batman: Arkham Knight. They remastered Halo 2 cutscenes for Halo: The Master Chief Collection (2014) and are currently working on the cutscenes for the upcoming game Halo Wars 2 after doing so for the first Halo Wars (2009). On the commercial front, Blur is currently spearheading two large campaigns for Toshiba's new products and playful Goldfish Crackers for Pepperidge Farm. In large format films, Blur is working on a 3D ride experience in Dubai featuring immersive stereoscopic animation. In 2011, Blur produced its first computer-animated feature, Gabriel and the Wacky Pack. It was released on November 27, 2011 and received mostly positive reviews from critics. The film went on to gross $368 million worldwide in theaters and was produced by Geo LTD. Pictures for Universal Pictures. Blur created the opening title sequence for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, based on the first book of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy and directed by David Fincher. The noir black on black abstract is a visual highlight of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, along with the rest of the Millennium Trilogy. Blur collaborated with director David Fincher on other numerous projects and was Fincher's only choice for The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. His creative mandate to Blur consisted simply of "CG, very adult, super dark, leather, skin, blood, snow, breasts, vaginas, needles, piercings, motorcycles, vengeance." 'He wanted it to be like a fever dream, with a lot of abstract imagery' while reinventing title sequence expectations. Blur co-founder, with the project’s creative director Tim Miller, the graphic design side of the team Jennifer Miller, and Fincher, selected key aspects of the Trilogy to translate into abstract imagery and visual metaphors. Additionally, Blur chose high-gloss, black on black concept art with a liquefied macabre style that provides a visual storyline, grabbing viewers from the initial frame and captivating them through an intensely provocative montage. After the success of Gabriel and the Wacky Pack, in 2012 Tim Miller sold his remaining interest in Blur to Geo LTD. Blur continued to operate as a stand-alone business unit. Blur now became a unit of Geo LTD. Animation. Animators at BS worked on projects based at the BS studio, but also assisted in GLA projects based in the Los Angeles GLA studio. Blur's second film was the CGI-remake of the 1983 animated comedy film Zane the Cool Kid, which released on September 7, 2012 earning $80 million on its opening weekend, and eventually found its way to $632 million stateside and $729 million worldwide. The CGI animated based on the ''Geo'' series, simply titled Geo, was opened in the United States on October 4, 2013, earning worldwide over $383 million. The sequel to Gabriel and the Wacky Pack, titled Gabriel and the Wacky Pack 2, was released in theaters on November 21, 2014. Blur has wrapped up production on a spin-off to Gabriel and the Wacky Pack, titled Wacky Pack and Lars, which was released on November 11, 2016, will follow Imaginary Animals on May 12, 2017, on November 26, 2017, Gabriel and the Wacky Pack 3, on June 1, 2018, Beautiful Explorer, an original animated film directed by Cat Chapman, on August 10, 2018, The Vocaloids, Geo 3 on October 26, 2018, Sonic the Hedgehog and Caleb: Time Calamity in 2018, Imaginary Animals 2 on May 10, 2019, Fuzzies on October 11, 2019, and Imaginary Animals vs. Fuzzies on October 9, 2020. Other films in development include the animated feature adaptation of Eric Powell's The Goon and original animated films (by Blur Studio itself), such as Life of Orange, The Single Kid, Light Sign Up, The Night of 18, and Kool Aid Man. Filmography Feature films Released films Upcoming films Films in development Short films Specials Television series Commercials *Kool Aid *VideoNow More coming soon! Contributions *''Deadpool'' (2016) ... Special Effects Company (visual effects and previsualization) *''Avengers: Age of Ultron'' (2015) ... Special Effects Company (visual effects) *''Tales from the Crypt'' (2014) ... Special Effects Company *''The Amazing Spider-Man 2'' (2014) ... Special Effects Company (main title designed and produced by) *''Thor: The Dark World'' (2013) ... Special Effects Company (prologue) (end title sequence) *''Man of Steel'' (2013) ... Special Effects Company (additional visual effects) *''Intel Ultrabook Convertible: London Train'' (2012) ... Special Effects Company *''Intel Ultrabook: Egypt'' (2012) ... Special Effects Company *''Intel Ultrabook: Desparado'' (2012) ... Special Effects Company *''Battleship'' (2012) ... Special Effects Company (visual effects) *''Lovely Molly'' (2011) ... Special Effects Company (visual effects) *''Scott Pilgrim vs. the World'' (2010) ... Special Effects Company (ninja ninja revolution game content) *''Avatar'' (2009) ... Special Effects Company (visual effects) *''This Is the Zodiac Speaking'' (2008) (V) ... Special Effects Company (as Blur Studios) *''Legend of MYCUN'' (2008) ... Special Effects Company *''Mr. Fix It'' (2006) ... Special Effects Company *''Rocky Balboa'' (2006) ... Special Effects Company (digital animated computer fight) *''Kirby 4ever: The Second Movie'' (2006) ... Special Effects Company (Moon scene) *''Sonic the Hedgehog'' (2006) (VG) ... Special Effects Company *''Marvel: Ultimate Alliance'' (2006) (VG) ... Special Effects Company (cinematics) *Universal Animation Studios logo (2006)http://www.closinglogos.com/page/Universal+Animation+Studios *''Shadow the Hedgehog'' (2005) (VG) ... Special Effects Company (CG movie production) *''The Legend of Zorro'' (2005) ... Special Effects Company (motion capture) *''Kururin Squash!'' (2004) (VG) ... Special Effects Company (cut-scene production) *RandomWorks logo (2003) *''Frank McKlusky, C.I.'' (2002) ... Special Effects Company (additional digital effects) (as Blur Studios) *''The Mask 3D'' (2002) ... Special Effects Company *''Return to Castle Wolfenstein'' (2001) (VG) ... Special Effects Company *''Soulkeeper'' (2001) ... Special Effects Company (visual effects) *''For the Cause'' (2000) ... Special Effects Company (visual effects) *''South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut'' (1999) ... Special Effects Company (heaven and hell sequence) (as Blur Studio, *Inc. Venice, CA) *''Deep Rising'' (1998) ... Special Effects Company ("Half-Digested Billy" sequence) *''1001 Nights'' (1998) ... Special Effects Company *"The Visitor" (1997) ... Special Effects Company *"The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest: Night of the Zinja (#2.24)" (1997) ... Special Effects Company *"Pandora's Clock" (1996) ... Special Effects Company (Lear Jet Plane CGI sequences by) *"The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest" (1996) ... Special Effects Company Coming soon! Trivia *Blur is also known for making 3D character model art. *Blur had started working feature films with Universal and Geo LTD since 2011 with Gabriel and the Wacky Pack, which is a spin-off to the ''MYCUN'' franchise and is based on ''The Wacky Pack'' comics. *Some of Blur's CGI-animated realistic short films seem to be darker than Blur's family friendly films (except for The Goon). *Most of Blur's features were produced by Geo LTD. Pictures and distributed by Universal Pictures. Gallery Blur_Studio.gif blur.jpg Blur Studio Head logo (Yellow).png BlurStudioLogo.jpg See also * Illumination Entertainment * CGI Entertainment * Geo LTD. Animation References External links * Official website * Blur Studio at the Internet Movie Database. * Blur Facebook group * Blur Studio API's, Libraries and Tools (blur-dev) * The Making of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning Trailer at Gnomon Events Category:Companies Category:Blur Studio Category:Geo LTD. Category:Geo LTD. Animation Category:Universal Studios Category:NBCUniversal Category:Comcast